Secure Content Management, or “SCM,” is a term that is commonly used to describe the functionality provided by security products and appliances that are utilized to protect the IT (information technology) assets of an enterprise such as a business, company, or other organization. Such functionality can include, for example, filtering network traffic into and out of the enterprise for malicious code such as viruses and worms, limiting access to inappropriate external content on the Internet from inside the enterprise, and preventing attacks and other intrusions on the enterprise network. SCM can also reduce the vulnerability of the enterprise to client-side exploits, spam e-mail, and phishing schemes where valuable and/or confidential information can be stolen.
Enterprises will often implement security policies that govern asset utilization to meet their particular business needs. These policies typically cover how information in the enterprise is handled, who may access information, what kinds of information may be accessed and when that information may be accessed, permissible and impermissible behaviors, auditing practices, and the like.
SCM can generally provide excellent protection against known and unknown Internet-borne threats for IT assets that are located within the perimeter of the enterprise. However, many enterprises are increasingly utilizing mobile IT assets such as laptop computers having, for example, Wi-Fi or other network connectivity functionality. Portable computing devices like smartphones, which may support both voice and wireless data communication features such as e-mail, are also seeing widespread usage.
Existing SCM solutions typically require roaming users to connect back to their company's enterprise network in order to access the Internet. This is often impractical if the roaming user is not close to the enterprise network because of the high latency that would typically be experienced or for other reasons, such as lack of support for localization of the user experience. As a result, roaming users and other users outside the enterprise network may utilize Internet access provided by Internet service providers (“ISPs”) and use public points of access such as Wi-Fi “hotspots” where security protection may not be as comprehensive as protection provided in the enterprise network. This can be a drawback to existing SCM solutions because such mobile IT assets can become vulnerable to security threats, and are not subject to the enforcement of the company's security policies when operated outside the premises of the protected enterprise network. In addition, while SCM currently provides comprehensive security solutions for business-based users, SCM solutions for the consumer market have not been developed with the same level of effectiveness.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.